Sunday, February 1, 2015

The 300 Eyed Chemical Monster Bedlah!

(previously published on Facebook in October, 2011)


This is an odd costume to be the first one I show you here. It is completely impractical -- not really representative of someone calling herself "the Practical Dancer." But, it is Halloween, after all.


And, there were a lot of good techniques used.


It started something like this: I am sitting at a "Haflaween" a year or so ago, watching performers in their crazy Halloween / bellydance costumes. And something, some piece of music, made me thing of putting wiggly eyes on a belt.

Flash forward a year or so, and my brother- and sister -in- law play a joke on my mother- and father- in law while they are out of town. They sneak into the house and put wiggly eyes EVERYWHERE. On the fridge when you open it. On switchplates. On the toilet lid when you lift it. It was hilarious.

And I just *had* to make a costume with them. Had to.

So, step one was figuring out how to attach them. For a while, I had some idea (crazy) about quilting them down under tulle. That wouldn't work -- it would make them hard to see from a distance. So, I thought about some kind of clear plastic, lightweight, but like contact paper that would seal them to the fabric.

You get really strange looks from the clerks at fabric stores describing a problem like that.

But, bless the ladies at Hancock, they have a sense of humor. (Mental note, I owe them a trip with the finished product; I promised after all.)

The clerk there took me to the glue isle and really recommended Fabric Tack. I had Sobo and (something else) already; but, 3 is the charm. So, I took the Fabric Tack home for a glue test.

I had 3 dimensions for success:
1. dries clear
2. ease of application (can I control the squirt?)
3. how well does it hold?

Here are the 3 lined up. The fabric tack was the hands down winner.

Construction . . . and a LOT of fumes . . .were in my future.


Knowing that the bedlah was going to have a white satin cover, I knew I needed an all white bra and belt base (so I wouldn’t have to cover it twice – once in an underliner and then again with the cover fabric). Off to Target for a sacrificial bra for underneath. When I buy bras for use in costumes, I always (now) follow the rule about buying a cup size that is at least one size up from my streetwear bra size. By that, I mean that I am a 32 B by day and a 34 or 36 B or C when I sew. Cups do shrink – look for what that can do when I post about the Turquoise, Copper, and Root Beer costume, and how upsetting that can be! I also pay attention to cup shape. I can write more about that later, but you DO need to think about how you will attach the straps, whether you will turn the cups in (I use this for strapless bra cups, where I rotate them “in” toward the center by up to 40 degrees so that they push in rather than up) and how you want the fit to be in general.

In this case, due to the circumstances below, I knew I needed a cup with a pretty shape that covered completely, without gaps.

This was because this bra would have to stand on its own. It needed rigidity, so that the embellishments could move.

This project required that kind of thinking through. Let’s see if this makes sense: I was going to cover the entire thing in wiggly eyes. If the fabric flexed too much, they would pop off (having this issue with the belt after 1 wearing, folks!) and the more rigid the surface, the more my movement would transfer to the eyes. Draping fluid was in order.

I can’t remember if I first heard about draping fluid from Ozma or from bellydanceforums.net; but, it is basically a very thick glue used to stiffen fabric, as when making bows, little lace hats for dolls, or those lovely little snowflake Christmas ornaments my Mom made when I was a kid. The directions say to wear gloves, and you should. I have a box of the simple (almost plastic wrap like) food service gloves I keep on hand for messy projects, and I highly recommend having a box on hand. The instructions also say to put the fluid in a bowl to work it into the item; but, I have watched enough Good Eats episodes to know that a zip bag will come in handy. The directions go in to say to cover your mold in plastic wrap, which you REALLY should do, and I also completely lined the baking pan that housed this mess in plastic wrap as well.

The directions do advise that you can thin up to (25, 50%?) – which I may well do next time; and, they say to work it in thoroughly into the fabric. Bag and gloves did this nicely. Put garment and fluid in a zip bag. Prep molding surface with plastic wrap. While wearing gloves, massage fluid in. Massage some more. And more. Carefully open bag (with gloves on), remove item, and shape onto mold. Pull gloves off by turning them inside out, toss in messy plastic bag, dispose of mess, and thank yourself for wearing gloves. Resist temptation to rearrange mold. Wait until dry, about 24 hours.

The bra came out so hard, you can literally knock on it with your knuckles. For the first time in my life, I have KNOCKERS! Literally!

Granted, I could also see where the fluid didn’t work all the way in, giving the fabric an odd translucency. IF you go full strength when you use this stuff, do consider leaving an edge without the stuff where you will sew. Because sewing on dried draping fluid is about like sewing DRYWALL. I had to use a rubber quilter’s grip to get the needle through, and had to push the needle against the table, kitchen counter, or any other hard surface (except my head) to sew it.

Seemed like a good idea at the time!


It’s not that monster from the horror movie (what was his name, Pinhead?), it’s how you have to hold the cover fabric on after you soak the bra in draping fluid. Sewing was a whole ‘nother proposition. There was a lot of cussing, a lot of washing blood spots out, and after washing 3 out, a LOT of waiting after every finger prick until the blood stopped flowing and the sewing could resume. I have learned that many dancers only make ONE white bra in their day. Guess why?

On to fitting the belt. I am about to reveal one of the secrets of the belly dancing universe. If you have had a child, like to eat, or are past “a certain age,” you have a “goddess belly.” A belly that has . . . shape. Curve. Dimension. And, as a result, your belt sits under that cute little belly curve that you may not think is so cute, after all. You have that thing that is jokingly diagnosed as “Dunlap’s disease” where the belly done lapped over the belt.

Hence, panty liners to the rescue!

A good friend taught me this method. What you need to do is to thicken the belt where it falls under the belly. This brings the visible edge of the belt forward so that the belly sticks out less, making the belly appear a bit nicer. To do it, take out a handful of panty liners near a surface like a table or counter. Start with two as your base layer, but do not peel the backing off, yet. Arrange them so that the narrow ends are touching, as if you needed a double-long liner. Now, take one pad, peel the backing off, and lay it on top so that it covers the area where the bottom two meet. Keep building up in a 2-1-2 pattern, until the entirety is the thickness you need. I need about 5/8 inch, or 9 pads total. To check thickness, put on the belt that you are working with and slide in the liner stack (centered under the belly button), look in the mirror, and see if it is enough. When you are happy, open up the lining of your belt where you want to place the pads and THEN you can peel the backing off of the base liners to expose the sticky part. Use that sticky part to help position the liners, then sew the belt lining fabric back into place. Replace pads when your body shape changes or you replace the lining. And hey, they do help absorb sweat, protecting your hard sewing work!

(PS: I have also cut them up to use as bra padding, too!)


The silly part (really, *this* is the silly part) is that this bra was inspired by a Sahar mirror bra. Heh!


The one eyed spider hair accessory. The feathers are so light that the float and wiggle like Daddy Long Legs legs when I dance.


Close up of belt lining, inspired by the lovely work that Ozma's Costumes does. This lining is *really* an "inside joke" if there ever was one!

And, in case you wondered how it moves, here is a little documentary / video silliness I did for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKmxT1lds8U